As the World Changed
by ToGoAndLetGo
Summary: After returning from Nam, Max goes to find Jude. And Jude helps Max find himself again. Max/Jude. You don't like it, I don't care.
1. Chapter 1

Prelude:

He'd been quiet since he'd gotten home. It unnerved his sister in the hospital, and on the way home. She'd used the cab to pick him up but he only managed to give her a smirk. She'd tried to make conversation on the trip back to the apartment, but he'd responded in one-word answers, if they were words at all. Mostly, he just stared out the window at the passing streetscape of New York. She hadn't touched the topic of Jude being deported, but she knew when the time came that he asked the question, she'd have to tiptoe through it.

Max had gone right to bed when they'd gotten back to the apartment. He didn't look around, didn't notice that the apartment had changed or that people were scarce. She watched him curl up on the mattress and felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. Vietnam had chewed up her brother and spit him out a different person than she knew. She'd lost Jude and now Max was fading away.

His didn't do much. She watched him move from his bed to the couch in the main room with glazed over eyes and slow movements. Lucy could never tell if Max was high or if he was just vacant from his lack of sleep. Finally, after two days the question emerged.

"So where's Jude?" He said, lounging on the couch with a beer.

She hesitated. "There was a riot just before you got back during a protest at Columbia…"

He perked up only slightly, his eyes getting a bit wide. "What happened… did he get hurt?"

"Yeah…" She reluctantly nodded. "He did… because of me. And then he was deported."

He gave her only a nod before getting up and going back to his room. She figured the combination of booze and marijuana would put him to sleep, at least a few hours. When he woke, he'd go out in the cab. Max never slept more than a few hours at a time. He drove the cab at night, in the late hours, because he couldn't sleep without thinking about Vietnam. The best way to keep his mind off it, he'd told her, was to pick up drunks and prostitutes.

A week later she found the note. It was simple and she couldn't help the smile that invaded her lips. It was a small glimmer of the Max she thought had died on the battlefield in Vietnam. It said simply:

Luce,

Went to Liverpool.

Love, Max.


	2. Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool

Jude knew that his day probably couldn't get less interesting. With every minute he spent back at the docks his mind was longing to be in the States. During breaks he'd drift off into daydreams, often of memories in a world left behind with time. Long passed were the days of Sadie's apartment with the comings and goings of the colorful characters that inhabited the Village. The days of drawing with a drink and a hit were gone. The days of Sadie singing in her room, Jojo's guitar and Max being… well Max… were a distant memory. He even missed the way Lucy would rant about revolution. He slipped on his coat, as he headed out the gate, his mind stuck on one thought. He may never know if Max lived through Nam. Maybe he didn't want to know.

When he reached the street he saw something familiar. He had to squint for a better look but he was almost completely certain that he was seeing clearly. Before him, leaning against a brick wall, leather jacket, cigarette in his mouth and with the most hideous mustache he'd ever seen, stood Max. Max had not yet realized that he was being watched. Jude was too surprised to speak.

It was Max who made eye contact and grinned. "Hey there, Judey. Did you miss me?"

"When did you get back?! When did you get here?" Jude stammered in surprise.

"From Nam… a few weeks ago, and here…" He glanced at his wrist, though he wasn't wearing a watch and grinned. "About an hour ago."

Jude laughed a little at Max's response before being engulfed in a hug he wasn't prepared for. Max held him close, taking ever second of the embrace as if it was going to be the last one. He felt as if any minute Jude would disappear from his grip and he'd have imagined the whole thing. Jude felt Max's body relax in the embrace; he'd seemed a bit tense before the hug. His only response was to hold his friend close so that the comfort continued to ease him.

Max broke the hug. "I missed you, man."

"I missed you too, mate. You don't look too bad… you're still in one piece." Jude smiled.

Max dismissed it. "Yeah well…"

"How about you tell me all about what I've missed in New York, over a pint at an authentic English pub?" Jude jumped in, sensing Max's discomfort.

Max grinned, throwing an arm around Jude's shoulders and blowing some cigarette smoke from his nose.

"Judey, you read my mind."

They sat beside each other at the bar. Max as on his third and Jude had barely finished one. There was a thick silence in the air after Max had told him about coming home and being injured and claming up after that. Jude didn't dare push anything else out of him, but he knew very well that the Max sitting beside him was a completely new version. He was like a new make of car, the old model was perfectly fine, the new model wasn't nearly as good but still kept some of the old features. It would take getting used to.

"So, you're back with mom?" Max broke the silence.

"No, I graduated to living down the street." He smirked. "The smell of paint was making her sick."

Max slapped the bar and leaned back on the stool. "Then let's go."

Jude quirked a brow as he tossed some cash on the bar to pay for the drinks, "One thing about you Max, you do get to the point."

"No.. on me man." Max gave Jude the cash, before putting down his own.

"Cab driver trumps starving artist then?" Jude smirked, leading Max out of the pub.

Max shook his head. His face changed and contorted into a slight grimace. "No man… it's just… I owe you for being a good guy and stepping up to look after my sister… it's a thank you."

Before Jude could reply, Max had a hold of his collar and tugged him into the alley down the street from the pub. He felt the blonde push him up against the wall, not harshly, but almost in a seductive pin before they're lips met in a crushing, longing kiss. Jude closed his eyes and moaned, deepening it and letting his arms slip around Max's neck, his fingers going instinctively to tangle in his blonde hair.

Jude broke for air, and let out a sigh as Max moved his lips down his neck in soft, tender nibbles.

"My… my.. flat is just a couple… blocks away.." He panted, before catching Max's lips again with his own.

Max moaned into this kiss. "Mmm we better hurry then…"

Jude led Max urgently to the flat. They were barely inside the door when Max was pinning him against the wall, ravishing him with another round of kisses. He flipped the tables and the brunette pinned Max, who's arms were snaking their way around Jude's waist to pull him closer. He leaned in and breathed into Jude's ear, heavy, throaty, sending a chill down the brunette's spine.

"Where to? Bedroom? Kitchen? Living room? Shower? Take your pick…"

Jude swallowed and then peppered Max's lips with kisses as he spoke, pushing the other man toward the bedroom. "We'll start in the bedroom and see where it takes us…"

Max smirked as Jude pushed him back first onto the bed before crawling to straddle his waist. He looked up into his deep dark eyes and started to remove Jude's shirt, button by button.

"I like that idea…"

Jude gave Max's shirt a small tug, it off of him before devouring him with another series of kisses. For the first time in a long time, Nam wasn't on the frontlines of Max's mind. He tugged off Jude's pants and propped himself on his elbows long enough to smother Jude's chest in wet kisses and tracing nibbles as clothes were removed. For a moment, Liverpool was gone; Jude was back in New York, back in Sadie's flat. His hands were covered in charcoal instead of blacked with soot from the boats. And he was in Max's arms, and everything was the way it should be.

After several hours, Jude was on his stomach, panting as the last waves of orgasm leaving his body, Max below him, his chest heaving and the calming pound of his heart against Jude's chest. He flicked his head up slowly to catch the moment of his counterpart lost in the afterglow, his light hair darkened by the sweat and sprawled on the pillow under him, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly open. Jude placed a gentle kiss on his collarbone before Max slipped his arm around his back, pulling him down so they were skin against skin. Jude tucked his head under Max's chin, his head resting against the other man's chest.

Jude sighed softly and made himself comfortable.

Max kissed the top of Jude's head and leaned over, to light up an after sex cigarette.

"God I've missed you mate." Jude murmured.

"I've missed you too." Max said softly, taking a drag off the cigarette before reaching up to stroke Jude's hair. "But we've been through that."

Jude smirked and reached up, snagging the cigarette and taking his own drag before leaning in and stealing a smokey kiss from Max's lips. Max met the kiss with his own lips, jetting his tongue into Jude's mouth and wrapping his long fingers into Jude's curls.

Jude broke the kiss to meet Max's eyes. "I could really do without that mustache."

Max laughed. "Then I'll shave it off right now."

"You don't have to… but I'd strongly recommend it." Jude replied.

Max moved, forcing Jude to roll aside to let him get up. He blew smoke into the artists face as he stood naked and rather proudly so, on the mattress they'd previously made love on. Max grinned.

"Razor… you got one?" He asked, sticking the cigarette back in his mouth.

Jude laughed and followed Max's stand, but not staying stationary as his friend had done. He got off the bed and walked toward the bathroom. Max took a moment to inspect the other man's ass before nodding in approval to himself and following to the bathroom to begin Operation Lose the Face Fuzz.

Once inside the bathroom, Max found himself pinned to the wall, with Jude slathering his face with shaving cream, a razor prominently displayed in the free hand.

"You have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this," Jude taunted.

"You're not torturing me man," Max laughed. "Well.. can I at least keep my soul patch? I bet Jojo'd think it's fly."

Jude sighed. "Well if it means that much to you.."

He steadied the razor and slowly started to shave Max's lip.

"Just don't make me look like Hitler, man."

Jude laughed and started to shave Max's face. "Well that takes the fun out of it."

"Watch it, or I'll shave your head when you're sleeping."


End file.
